Reference: Massah And Meribah
Hastings
Ex 17:1-7 (Jewish Encyclopedia) tells of a miraculous gift of water at a spot near Horeb, which was called Massah and Meribah ('testing' and 'contention') because the people tested Jahweh by doubting His providence and contended with Moses. It is implied that this occurred about a year after the Exodus. Nu 20:1-18, a later narrative (Priestly Narrative), gives a similar account, but puts it thirty-seven years later, and with important variations. The scene is now laid at Kadesh, which receives the name Meribah from the contention of Israel with Jahweh. Moses and Aaron also sin against Him. There are references to the first passage in De 6:16; 9:22; Ps 95:8; and to the second in De 32:51; Ps 106:32; in Ps 81:7 the two are apparently confused. De 33:8 regards the events at Kadesh in a peculiar light: here Jahweh proves Levi at Massah and strives with (or for) him at Meribah. The tendency of recent criticism is to consider Ex 17 and Nu 20 as duplicate records of the same event, the locality of which must be fixed at Kadesh, where the spring 'Ain Kad
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Then they came back to invade En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they defeated all the territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar.
The entire Israelite community left the Wilderness of Sin, moving from one place to the next according to the Lord's command. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So the people complained to Moses: "Give us water to drink." "Why are you complaining to me?" Moses replied to them. "Why are you testing the Lord?" read more. But the people thirsted there for water, and grumbled against Moses. They said, "Why did you ever bring us out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?" Then Moses cried out to the Lord, "What should I do with these people? In a little while they will stone me!" The Lord answered Moses, "Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take the rod you struck the Nile with in your hand and go. I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink." Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites complained, and because they tested the Lord, saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?"
The entire Israelite community entered the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and they settled in Kadesh. Miriam died and was buried there. There was no water for the community, so they assembled against Moses and Aaron. read more. The people quarreled with Moses and said, "If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord. Why have you brought the Lord's assembly into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here? Why have you led us up from Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It's not a place of grain, figs, vines, and pomegranates, and there is no water to drink!" Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent of meeting. They fell down with their faces [to the ground], and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. The Lord spoke to Moses, "Take the staff and assemble the community. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock while they watch, and it will yield its water. You will bring out water for them from the rock and provide drink for the community and their livestock." So Moses took the staff from the Lord's presence just as He had commanded him. Moses and Aaron summoned the assembly in front of the rock, and Moses said to them, "Listen, you rebels! Must we bring water out of this rock for you?" Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, so that a great amount of water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank. But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust Me to show My holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land I have given them." These are the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the Lord, and He showed His holiness to them. Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, "This is what your brother Israel says, 'You know all the hardships that have overtaken us. Our fathers went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt many years, but the Egyptians treated us and our fathers badly. When we cried out to the Lord, He heard our voice, sent an Angel, and brought us out of Egypt. Now look, we are in Kadesh, a city on the border of your territory. Please let us travel through your land. We won't travel through [any] field or vineyard, or drink [any] well water. We will travel the King's Highway; we won't turn to the right or the left until we have traveled through your territory.' " But Edom answered him, "You must not travel through our land, or we will come out and confront you with the sword."
houses full of every good thing that you did not fill [them with], wells dug that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant-and when you eat and are satisfied,
Do not test the Lord your God as you tested [Him] at Massah.
For [both of] you broke faith with Me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin by failing to treat Me as holy in their presence.
He said: The Lord came from Sinai and appeared to them from Seir; He shone [on them] from Mount Paran and came with ten thousand holy ones, with lightning from His right hand for them.
He said about Levi: Your Thummim and Urim belong to Your faithful one; You tested him at Massah and contended with him at the waters of Meribah.
You called out in distress, and I rescued you; I answered you from the thundercloud. I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
"Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on that day at Massah in the wilderness
They angered [the Lord] at the waters of Meribah, and Moses suffered because of them;
On the east side it will run between Hauran and Damascus, along the Jordan between Gilead and the land of Israel; you will measure from the [northern] border to the eastern sea. This will be the eastern side. On the south side it will run from Tamar to the waters of Meribath-kadesh, and on to the Brook [of Egypt] as far as the Mediterranean Sea. This will be the southern side.